When we feel that what we do does not fulfill us, there are those who take refuge and those who jump. The former are betting on stability, as is normal, and the latter on what may exist after going through a labyrinth of risks. A year ago, the Ibizan Lara Magrinyà and the Catalan Anna Sala quit their jobs as teachers at a music school to create The Arannàa musical duo that combines innovation and tradition. After the publication of To the salamandertheir first album inspired by the literary world of the renowned Catalan writer Mercè Rodoreda, have won the XVII Miquel Martí i Pol Prize.
Once the fragility at the beginning of his career was overcome, this musical project that is accompanied by keyboards, voices and synthesizers begins to glimpse its own path, tailored to its own needs. During the last few days they have been in Formentera to start working on their next album, which will be related to the cant repeata traditional song from the islands of Ibiza and Formentera. Lara Magrinyà, lead voice of the duo, explains that they need to “generate a climate” to “start writing something new.” We talk to her.
So are they preparing something new?
Yes, yes. The works are being linked and we are already planning the next one. But hey, so as not to have gaps that are not very convenient. We work with a label called agavewhich is from a guy who just opened it very recently and is a friend of ours. We are all a little bit involved in team building, having a network of people who support you is key to being able to grow in music.
How does it arise The Arannà And what were its beginnings like?
We both studied classical music at the Higher School of Music of Catalonia (ESMUC), we were studying classical piano performance. Once this academic phase is over, like many people, we decide to dedicate ourselves to teaching, because it is almost the only way out that more or less fits with the stability we seek at the moment of emancipation. But it didn’t fill us up enough.
There was something a little stunted, that part of being able to continue making your own artistic path, right? So, I really wanted to sing because it is something that I have always liked a lot and that comes naturally to me. It is also a way of doing very, very, contrary to what our training asked of us, which was to seek perfection. In the end, a little doubtful, we said to ourselves: “What if we try to make songs, me singing, you accompany me, and we’ll see?” So we start there.
So we decided to set to music some unpublished texts by the writer Toni Sala that he himself gave us. We made three little songs that were very popular and, little by little, we entered a kind of literary circuit, because when he gave presentations of the book, sometimes they invited us to sing. Afterwards we considered making a slightly larger repertoire and finally we thought about creating an album with our own songs.
And what was the process like from giving voice to literary texts to transitioning to your own voice?
As we came from this literary side, we decided to continue with this tradition of taking an author in the Catalan language and putting it to music. But at a certain point we remembered Mercè Rodoreda’s stories, which we loved because they were very powerful. The only problem is that they weren’t poetry, and therefore making that into a song was complicated. We found it a very interesting challenge.
At the same time, we were lucky to receive a scholarship in La Marfà, of Girona, an entity that promotes the cultural fabric of young emerging artists. They gave us help in 2023, which consisted of financial aid for the project we presented and, in addition, a year of support and advice. This was a big push, because it was the first time that an institution looked at our work and decided it was worthwhile. It was a turning point.
So, since we couldn’t make a living from this, we left the rest of our jobs to focus our energies on this project and went to our parents’ house so we wouldn’t have to pay rent and could do it more peacefully. That was last year. Thanks to that scholarship we were able to record the album that came out in April and that began to make us known to the public.
As we came from this literary side, we decided to continue with this tradition of taking an author in the Catalan language and putting it to music. But at a certain point we remembered Mercè Rodoreda’s stories, which we loved because they were very powerful. The only problem is that they weren’t poetry, and therefore making that into a song was complicated. We found it to be a very interesting challenge.
Being young and having a stable first job sounds very risky nowadays.
It is a continuous risk because you have to continually learn and make decisions blindly. Normally, when you have a job that already exists, that is already prepared, with a position to fill, a few hours and a salary, everything is very clear. But in this case it is absolutely blind. You have to take the risk of it going right or going wrong.
Dedicating ourselves to music means constantly jumping into the void. It’s risky, but that’s the beautiful thing too, I guess. Yo He directed many choirs and also gave piano and music classes. And at first I also had that fear of letting go of something that is stable in principle. I thought about reducing class hours but you can’t, you have to be completely dedicated to this.
Once this stage has been passed, the Miquel Martí i Pol Award arrives. How have you received it?
It has been a surprise. We applied and, suddenly, we received the information that we had been selected among the first 25 proposals of the year and that seemed very strong to us. But then there was another screening, where there were 5 finalists, and we were in. What is happening?, we said to ourselves. We thought we would stay there. But Lluís Llach called us one Saturday to tell us no, that they had decided to give us the first prize. We didn’t believe it. It is very important to note that from the outside someone gives meaning to what you do. Because the meaning of your work is invented by you. In the end, we make songs that no one has asked us for and it’s very nice when someone recognizes it.
The song that gives the title to her album talks about a witch who takes on the connotation of a rebellious and fighting woman. Is there a feminist motivation behind this impulse?
There is a feminist connection and something that we had very close at hand. Anna lives in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, her family is from there, and Mercè Rodoreda died in the next town. So there was also this proximity of saying “oh man, there are still people who remember her walking around there.” That, in some way, has given us that point of closeness with this material, it has motivated us, although the fact is that we are two women working on this. We are not seeking to draw attention to that specific parameter, although it is obviously a topical issue because it still seems that we must fight to make visible certain normalities that, due to having one gender or another, are what they are.
On the other hand, I wanted to ask you about the current boom in music in Catalan made by young women. I am referring to Júlia Colom, Marala, Maria Hein, Maria Jaume or even Mushkka. Do they take this phenomenon into account from within?
Yes, the thing is that I don’t know if it would include us there, because I think that with this first album I don’t know if it was just for that audience, but yes, I think it is something that is happening. The style of all the singers of this trend and their age, because they are younger, is different.
Until recently you did not see Catalan trap, I think there is a moment in which in the end we are working with the issue of the Catalan language and also giving a space for its visibility. But, as I told you, it is still something that arises as an indirect consequence of everyone’s work.
Yes, because your music is also characterized by playing with tradition, but it is also very, very innovative, although it may not be intentional.
Of course, because it is a language that is very present today. The working material of many artists, this language, is perhaps more of electronic music. It is true that we come from the classical world, but our music is not classical music. What we do now is give the project what it needs to shine brighter. We were very clear that we did not want to stay in this plane of the song accompanied by piano and that’s it. That’s why we went, for example, to look for the work of other artists, such as our producer, Emili Bosch.
We didn’t want to create an electronic sound in a forced way. We always try to give a lot of space to our vision, trying not to fall into the temptation of canons, because you can immediately put together a song in five minutes and make it work. What attracts us is to look for a very detailed or precious composition of what you have in front of you.
Source: www.eldiario.es
